William,
Use caution with acetone as a cleaning agent. Some plastics are very soluble in acetone. In fact acetone is used as an agent for bonding polystyrene for making shields in laboratories. Rem Oil found in gun shops and the sporting goods section of WalMart and the like is good. I use a citrus based degreaser (for cleaning bicycle parts) as it has never damaged any plastics (try it in a place where any harm will not be visible first). This stuff even removes tobacco smoke residue and leaves a citrus odor behind which fades after a while. Do not use around high voltage. 70% isopropyl alcohol will work. Ethanol is also good if you can get aviation grade. One can always get 190 proof alcohol from the package store, but it is a bit pricey.
George
N1YAE
-----Original Message-----
From: 450 [mailto:450-bounces at lists.vhfwiki.com] On Behalf Of William Knapp / WA1WK
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2015 10:31 AM
To: 450 at lists.vhfwiki.com
Subject: [450] Microphone painting project.
Mt Shure 450 was looking pretty ratty. I'm not ever planning on selling it. After all I got it for free out of a dumpster, so I figured..what the heck, why not paint it. Now it's gloss black on the bottom. What color do you guys suggest for the top part (which extends out a few more inches than is shown in the photo.) My only worry is that the paint my dub off when I raise and lower the neck extension of the mic. I want to keep all the brushed aluminum accents intact.
I may take out the PTT switch and paint that too. It's pretty grungy from use, but I might be able to just clean it with some acetone or something similar.
So anyway - suggest away for a top color for the mic.
Hope you all had a good turkey (or tofurkey) day.